The American Indian Policy and Media Initiative (AIPMI), sponsored by the Communication Department, investigates how the media covers Native American issues and works with tribes to get their stories told. It is the only higher education–sponsored project of its kind in the United States, according to project director Ron Smith, professor and chair of the department.

“As an academic institution, Buffalo State brings expertise and credibility to look at issues without a vested interest,” said Smith. “Sometimes reporters can be quick to accept news from government entities without questioning it or fully understanding the tribe’s point of view. We just take an objective look at the reporting of information.”

Founded in 2005 and funded heavily by grants, the AIPMI already has many accomplishments. It has hosted a number of public forums both on campus and around the country in places like Washington, D.C., and Santa Barbara, California, on topics such as television programming, gaming and taxation, and diversity. Smith works with his department’s research and reporting classes to conduct focus groups and surveys. He and his staff also develop and place opinion pieces from American Indian writers in media outlets nationwide, and provide content analysis and coverage. For example, Smith analyzed how some reporters portrayed a 2007 vote by the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma to determine citizenship as a race and civil rights issue, without putting historical facts in context.

Most recently, Smith and Kara Briggs, the AIPMI’s associate director, co-edited Shoot the Indian: Media, Misperception and Native Truth. The book is a provocative collection of important speeches, original research, and news reports examining the intersection of tribal America, government, and the media. According to Smith, it may be added to the recommended reading list for members of the United States Congress.

As the AIPMI’s project director, Smith is responsible for building the initiative’s funding base and working on academic projects. He says his role accounts for about 10 to 15 percent of his time at Buffalo State.

“The initiative formed because it was the right place and right time to do so,” he said. “It’s a practical implementation of the commitment of both the Communication Department and Buffalo State to diversity, community involvement, and professional service.”

Briggs is a full-time staff member, and colleagues José Barreiro and Timothy Johnson (a former Buffalo State faculty member) act as senior advisers. Barreiro and Johnson are senior staff at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. Smith and his team hope to create a research template for the 32 tribal colleges in the United States that enables each to examine how its local media report on issues. They also would like to assemble a national group of key Native American media leaders who are qualified to discuss issues.

With processing support from the Buffalo State College Research Foundation, the Taft Organization recently awarded the AIPMI a $30,000 grant that will help the initiative develop educational programming for the National Museum of the American Indian. Additionally, members of the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications cited the AIPMI as a key strength of the Communication Department during a recent visit to campus—which Smith said will go a long way in helping the department earn accreditation.

“There is something of national significance beginning with this initiative,” he said. “This can put Buffalo State ‘on the map’ in a new way.”

Coming to Buffalo State is something of a homecoming for Susanne P. Bair, the new vice president for institutional advancement and development.

Bair, a native of Indiana, attended Indiana State University. “Like Buffalo State,” she said, “Indiana State started out as a normal school and then became a teachers college. It’s comparable in size, too—about 12,000 students. And at that point in my life I was focused on becoming a public school teacher and coach. But Buffalo State is much more diverse, and I find that appealing.”

However, what really attracted her was the college’s mission. Bair was the first person in her family to go to college, and the fact that Buffalo State attracts such students and offers them the opportunities that Bair herself enjoyed was a powerful inducement. Raising money to benefit these particular students also attracted Bair. “My parents didn’t have a lot of money,” she said. “If I had not received scholarships, I could not have attended college.”

Once she visited campus, Bair found another reason to like the college: the Midwest flavor of Buffalo Niagara.

“People told me, ‘Buffalo is the beginning of the Midwest,’” she said. “I didn’t quite understand what that meant until I interviewed here, and then I found out it was true. I felt comfortable here, and that really matters when you’re moving to a new place.”

Bair is looking forward to working with President Muriel Howard. “She wants to see Institutional Advancement move forward,” said Bair, “and I’m looking forward to doing some exciting things.”

Bair began her career in higher education as a doctoral student serving as administrative assistant to the associate athletic director for women’s sports at Indiana University Bloomington. After a brief stint at Northeast Missouri State University (now Truman State University) as associate athletic director, she returned to Indiana University, this time as associate director of development and external affairs for the Indiana University Bloomington School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation (HPER). By the time she left HPER as an assistant dean and director of development and external affairs, she had created the strategy for a major academic endowment campaign, solicited gifts to endow six faculty chairs and professorships, and secured the largest gift in the school’s history—$1.7 million.

Later, as vice president of development for the Indiana University Foundation, Bair was responsible for supervising a staff of about 100 people and a budget of $6 million. During her tenure, private gifts increased from $108.1 million to $121.4 million, and the number of donors hit a record—105,977, up from 100,795 the previous year.

It is perhaps not surprising that Bair came to Buffalo State from Indiana University by way of a detour. When illness touched her family, Bair decided to put her talents as a fundraiser to work in the health-care industry. But she missed education. “I’ve been in education all my life,” she said. “I started out as a public school teacher. I liked health care a lot, but I decided the best thing for me was to get back into education.”

The fact that Buffalo State is a smaller school is one of the features that Bair found attractive. “Buffalo State’s size really appeals to me,” she said. “I’m looking forward to the opportunity to get to know people on a personal, one-to-one basis.”

Bair is also eager to work with the Buffalo State College Foundation Board of Directors and the board of the Alumni Association. She is already impressed with their strength. “The members are busy people who make time to serve because they care very much about this college,” she said.

What can the campus community expect to see under Bair’s leadership?

“You have to be strategic about the fundraising process,” said Bair. “For example, here at Buffalo State, we are really focused on raising scholarship dollars. We are also looking to increase our alumni participation rate. So we will be implementing a project that addresses both of these concerns using a telephone program to solicit gifts from alumni who have never donated to us. Each dollar they give will be matched, dollar for dollar, by a $50,000 challenge grant with the total amount used for scholarships.”

The biggest change the campus will see is the presence of a major gift officer in each of the college’s five schools and University College. Major gift officers will work directly with deans and faculty to identify prospective donors. Gift officers will then partner with units on the cultivation and solicitation process. Metrics will be applied to the process to ensure greater accountability and to increase outcomes. “We will be working much harder to reconnect our alumni to Buffalo State,” said Bair.

Bair sees this strategy as a collaborative process that facilitates the flow of information among development, faculty, staff, and alumni. “Ultimately,” said Bair, “what’s most important is that we all work together to make Buffalo State College the best college it can be.”

Cynthia Conides, associate professor of history and social studies education, knows a thing or two about museums. For more than a year, she has served as the acting executive director for the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society, near Buffalo State College. Conides calls museums “cornerstones that encapsulate the identity of a region” and says a museum’s interior reflects the surrounding community. Her passion is catching on with students, who are showing strong interest in the college’s museum studies curricula.

Kathryn Leacock, a lecturer with the History and Social Studies Education Department, says that while the program is growing, there are still not enough students to meet the demand of cultural institutions seeking Buffalo State interns.

“Museum careers are hot right now,” said Leacock, “and nonprofits know Buffalo State has a good program.”

Leacock, who herself acquired a museum studies minor from Buffalo State in 1999, is the program’s only full-time faculty member along with Conides. She also serves as adviser and internship coordinator—while volunteering as a research associate for the Buffalo Museum of Science.

Through an exchange of personnel in summer 2006, the Historical Society’s former executive director, William Siener, became senior curatorial fellow for Buffalo State’s Monroe Fordham Regional History Center. Conides took Siener’s place. Leacock was working at the Museum of Science when Buffalo State asked her to manage the museum studies program in Conides’s absence.

The college and its neighbor now have a mutually beneficial relationship with a virtually seamless sharing of resources. The Historical Society benefits from Buffalo State’s faculty expertise, and student placement bolsters staffing. Conversely, Buffalo State can access the Historical Society’s vast collection of artifacts and research library materials, including 20,000 books, 2,000 manuscripts, and 200,000 photographs. The two institutions have worked together to bring new collections to the region, conserve collections with the Art Conservation Department, digitize resources, and provide docent training for students.

Students are learning that museum careers offer much more than curator or archive management positions.

“The museum studies track helps students with virtually any job that takes place inside a museum,” said Leacock. “Our students become educators, public relations professionals, accountants, and event managers for places like the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, CEPA Gallery, and the Burchfield-Penney Art Center. They are interning all over the state—even in some of New York City’s finest museums.”

About five students intern each semester at the Historical Society, and a few alumni work there. Currently, students have the added benefit of witnessing Conides help the institution develop a five-year strategic plan, prepare it for reaccreditation, and provide fresh ideas for programming.

“I think my leadership role influences students,” she said. “They’re amazed because they see me doing the things I teach. When they see skills applied in the field, it gives them hope for their future careers.”

The museum studies program offers an undergraduate minor, an advanced certificate, or a master’s degree in history with a museum studies concentration. All students start by taking introductory museum studies classes through the History and Social Studies Education Department; electives may come from many areas, including anthropology, the arts, communication, creative studies, economics, English, history, technology, geography, library research, and music.

“The museum studies program diversifies students and makes them more marketable,” said Leacock. “Even a place like the Hard Rock Café needs someone to manage a collection of guitars. The hands-on experiences give students confidence. The success of the program is really in the success of the students. They go on to do great things.”

“What a glorious opportunity it is for students to be right in the thick of the Museum District,” added Conides. “And at state tuition, too.”

Applications are now being accepted for Provost’s Incentive Grants for academic year 2007–2008. Awards of up to $2,000 are available to tenured and tenure-track faculty members to assist with travel, purchase of materials, conference fees, and other support for scholarly, research, and creative activities.

A selection committee of representatives from the four schools will review proposals based on the criteria of benefit to the faculty member’s professional development, teaching, and service to the academic department.

Applications must be submitted by 4:00 p.m. Thursday, February 14. Research, scholarship, and creative activities should be conducted from March 15, 2008, to March 15, 2009.

Application instructions can be obtained from the Academic and Student Affairs Office, Cleveland Hall 519, or the Academic Affairs Web site. Please contact Janet Ramsey, associate vice president for undergraduate education and dean of University College, (716) 878-5906, with questions.

The Advisory Committee of Buffalo State’s Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (CASTL) and Academic Affairs announce three one-year, $3,000 faculty-development fellowships to promote the scholarship of teaching and learning on campus. All tenured and tenure-track Buffalo State faculty members are eligible to apply.

Research funded by these fellowships can be empirical (qualitative or quantitative studies, measurement of student learning or teaching effectiveness, etc.) or conceptual (design of educational innovations, curriculum development, pedagogical problem analysis, etc.). All proposals that represent the scholarship of teaching and learning are welcome; however, the committee will give priority to projects that focus on the following areas:

1. Active and Collaborative Learning:Investigations of how collaboration among students and/or level of involvement with course material facilitates student learning.
2. Promoting Academic Challenge:Documentation of classroom strategies that successfully promote high student effort and performance that meets or exceeds course objectives.
3. Enriching Educational Experiences:Studies that illustrate how enrichment programs such as Intellectual Foundations, service learning, and undergraduate research or interdisciplinary and international activities enable students to integrate and apply knowledge.
4. Pedagogical Research: Studies that improve our understanding of educational factors that foster student creativity and achievement.

Fellows will conduct studies related to their specialty areas during the 2008–2009 academic year. They also will work closely with Cheryl Albers, coordinator for the campus programs for CASTL, and Janet Ramsey, associate vice president for undergraduate education and dean of University College, to promote faculty development efforts related to their fellowship. In addition, fellows are required to serve as members of the CASTL Advisory Committee and present their findings at a public forum. Fellows are responsible for compliance with any applicable research approval conditions as set out by the Research Foundation.

Submissions must be received by 3:00 p.m. Tuesday, April 1. Send electronic submissions tolabiaksm@buffalostate.edu.

Hard-copy submissions will be accepted but are not necessary with electronic submission. Mail hard-copy submissions to Susan Labiak, Buffalo State College, University College, 510 South Wing, Buffalo, NY 14222.

Full application guidelines and selection criteria are available online. Questions should be directed to Cheryl Albers, coordinator for the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (CASTL), (716) 878-3292.

Proposal-Writing Workshop Dates
(All workshops will be held in Cleveland Hall 418)

Translating a Pedagogical Interest of Issue into a SOTL Study
Wednesday February 6, 3:00–4:00 p.m.
or
Thursday February 7, 12:15–1:15 p.m.

Designing a SOTL Study That Meets the Fellowship Criteria
Wednesday February 13, 3:00–4:00 p.m.
or
Thursday February 14, 12:15–1:15 p.m.

To register for a workshop, contact Susan Labiak in the CASTL office in University College, (716) 878-3093.

Kerran L. Sanger, Ph.D., has been appointed associate dean of the School of Arts and Humanities, effective January 18. She succeeds Dennis M. McCarthy, M.F.A., who has retired from the position after 14 years of distinguished service as associate dean and 31 years at the college.

Sanger joined the Buffalo State faculty as a member of the Communication Department in 1988 and holds the rank of associate professor. She earned a Ph.D. in speech communication from Pennsylvania State University in 1991.

During her tenure at Buffalo State, Sanger has twice served as interim associate dean in the School of Arts and Humanities. She has served on numerous campus committees, including the Academic Appeals Committee, the Academic Technology Advisory Council, and the Orientation Steering Committee. She received the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1998, and has published in the area of the rhetoric of protest, with a focus on African American protest music. She is a member of the National Communication Association.

February 1 marks the official grand opening of the new Campbell Student Union Retail Dining Center, but the facility—with seating for 400, an array of food choices, and wireless Internet access—is already brimming with activity.

“This is exactly what we envisioned,” said Hal Payne, vice president for student affairs. “The space not only offers expanded food options, it encourages student interaction and a sense of community. It’s a draw for both resident and commuting students.”

Designed as a “marché,” or market, the space features dining and seating on three levels. Upon entering the facility, customers can overlook the entire food court and get a sense of the many choices offered by eight branded food service venues: grill, pasta, vegan, Mexican, Chinese, subs/deli, frozen delights, baked goods, and gourmet coffee and beverages.

On the lower level, lounge furniture is clustered around a freestanding fireplace. Table and bar seating fills the large open spaces, as well as the more sequestered areas on the lower levels, including the Internet café. The result is an inviting bistro environment that encourages interaction or study.

Architectural firm BHNT began the design process by surveying students about their menu preferences and conducting site visits with students to food service facilities at peer institutions.

“There is probably no more important factor in student life than food service, which translates to menu choices and a dining environment with a high ‘Wow!’ factor,” said alumnus Tom Zilka, ’96, BHNT project manager. “The design of the new retail dining center focuses on these two factors.”

Flexibility is also key. The upper level features a semicircular dining area that easily converts to a stage. Throughout, furniture can be easily moved to accommodate different seating configurations, from small discussion groups to entertainment seating.

The renovation was initiated by $250,000 in state funding from New York State Assembly member and Buffalo State alumnus Sam Hoyt, ’92, after contact from Payne and United Students Government leaders. Sodexho, the vendor who manages campus dining, committed $1 million to the long-awaited renovation. Phase II of the $7.3 million Student Union upgrade involves renovating dining facilities for resident students who participate in the college’s meal plans. Construction has begun and is expected to be completed by fall.

President Muriel Howard will host Assembly Member Hoyt and Sodexho Campus Services President Tom Post at an opening ceremony on Friday, February 1. Officials will cut an orange Bengal-clad cake instead of a ribbon. Faculty, staff, and students are invited to sample menu items, win raffle prizes, and enjoy live music performed by students from noon to 1:00 p.m.

More than 150 students returned to campus and a newly renovated Cassety Hall this semester, greatly easing a student housing crunch that forced some resident students into downtown hotels last year.

According to Timothy Ecklund, associate vice president for campus life, the average cost of a new 150-bed campus housing facility is close to $20 million, so the $2.5 million reconfiguration of Cassety Hall was a significant cost-saving measure for the college.

When it opened in 1949, Cassety Hall was the first permanent residence hall constructed in the State University of New York system. It recently housed student organizations and a few faculty offices. Kris Kaufman, director of residence life, said that while every construction project is a challenge, Cassety Hall’s original structure made the latest transition relatively simple.

First-year and transfer students are experiencing both old and new features in Cassety Hall. Construction crews salvaged some existing materials, such as marble dividers in bathrooms and closets with wood accents. But they replaced windows and carpets, added new sprinkler systems and furniture, and completely remodeled the basement, which features a large common lounge, meeting room, computer lab, laundry facilities, small study rooms, and the resident director’s apartment. Buffalo State offered storage for students’ possessions during the winter break and provided delivery upon return.

Kaufman worked closely with Debra Hurley, Steven Shaffer, and Daniel Herr—all with the Facilities Planning Office—to redesign Cassety Hall and oversee construction. The additional housing, he said, will create “surge space” to focus on other needed housing renovations, particularly the towers on the campus’s north end.

Over time, Kaufman sees Cassety Hall becoming a residence hall for upperclassmen and transfer students. The college’s resident student population has grown from 1,250 in 1992 to more than 2,150 currently.

Tours of Cassety Hall will be offered as part of tomorrow’s grand opening ceremony at the Campbell Student Union Retail Dining Center. Tour groups will leave the Student Union beginning at noon.

The Graduate School will hold an Education Programs Information Session from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. Wednesday, February 6, in the Campbell Student Union Assembly Hall. Register online or contact the Graduate School for more information. All faculty and staff are welcome to attend.

From the Provost
I encourage the Buffalo State community to nominate deserving colleagues for Chancellor’s, President’s, and Distinguished Teaching and Service awards. A schedule for the receipt of nomination packages follows. Guidelines are available on the Academic Affairs Web site or may be obtained from the Academic and Student Affairs Office, Cleveland Hall 519, ext. 5550.

Nominations with supporting materials for the President’s Award for Excellence in Academic Advisement; the Advancement of Equity and Campus Diversity; Librarianship; Research, Scholarship, and Creativity; Service to the College; Teaching; or as an Undergraduate Research Mentor must be submitted to the provost by the following dates (the first Monday in March each year):

March 3, 2008 (academic year 2007–2008)
March 2, 2009 (academic year 2008–2009)
March 1, 2010 (academic year 2009–2010)

Nominations with supporting materials for SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor or SUNY Distinguished Service Professor awards, or for the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching; Professional Service; Librarianship; Scholarship and Creative Activities; or Faculty Service must be submitted to the provost, Cleveland Hall 519, by the following dates (the third Monday in October each year):

October 20, 2008 (academic year 2008–2009)
October 19, 2009 (academic year 2009–2010)
October 18, 2010 (academic year 2010–2011)